Stay mentally sharp late in life by playing this great card game every day
Keeping the brain active is so important as we age. Alongside regular physical activity, mental exercise can maintain good morale late in life by keeping the brain active, and therefore functional, which, in turn, can boost your social interactions.
There are various ways to keep the brain in good shape in our mature years. Playing strategic games is one of them. Perhaps surprisingly, playing Solitaire has been found to help keep your brain sharp, and can even lower the risk of dementia.
“Solitaire is an enjoyable card game that can give the brain a gentle but very thorough workout,” comments Holger Sindbæk, a gaming enthusiast and founder and CEO of Online Solitaire. “Deduction, facial and object recognition, and short-term memory are all positively affected by playing the game. That’s great for brain health, and that’s good news for your broader life as time passes”.
Below, Holger reveals how playing Solitaire often can stimulate brain health.
Why Your Brain Loves Solitaire
The expert lists the following benefits of playing this unique card game:
- Brain health: Clinical studies have found that Solitaire often can maintain and improve cognitive function, and is associated with a lower risk of dementia.
- Stress management: Playing Solitaire can help you to manage your emotions – stress included. Solitaire involves planning and strategizing. You have to be very methodical, engaged totally in the game, and be patient to win.
“Doing these things can put you in an almost meditative or ‘Alpha’ state that excludes all awareness of what’s going on around you, and in your life,” says Holger. That tight cognitive focus zaps stress like sleep, reading, or doing creative things can. Solitaire is immersive, and that’s great for your brain.”
- Memory: Object and facial recognition, and short-term memory all get a boost from playing Solitaire because of the memory-intense nature of the game.
- Problem Solved: Solitaire exercises your critical thinking skills, which are vital to your problem-solving abilities. You have to sequence, sort, and organize Solitaire cards. You need to strategize, and experiment with techniques to win, too.
“Refined and boosted by the regular mental exercise that playing Solitaire frequently provides, these brain functions can impact your everyday life positively. That’s great for long term brain health, and keeping dementia very much at arm’s length.”
- Dopamine: Winning feels good, doesn’t it? That includes winning at Solitaire. The science behind that sensation reveals that successful life strategies can stimulate the release of the ‘feel-good chemical’ in your brain: dopamine.
“Dopamine plays a role in memory, mood, sleep, learning, concentration, movement and other functions. Winning at Solitaire can thereby make you feel good directly, via your endocrine system. But you will also associate playing Solitaire with positive sensations; so it can have a strong placebo effect, too”.
- Decision-Making: Problem-solving and decision taking are mental functions that orchestrate widespread brain interactions. As a strategic game, Solitaire puts these faculties to good use, and exercises them robustly.
“Playing Solitaire makes you weigh outcomes and practice strategies. That can make you a more confident decision maker in your wider life”.
The Expert Comments
“Ironically, a game that is solitary can actually enhance social functions and interactions because it stimulates brain functions that are common to both. Because it’s a game for one, it gives you some down time away from others, too, and we all need to switch off from the world to remain in good shape mentally,” says Holger.
“Staying mentally sharp is incredibly important to our wellbeing in later years, and our social lives. Mental acuity can maintain our sense of ourselves as young at heart, and allow us to better deal with the world in all walks of life. Playing Solitaire regularly can actually help with this brain maintenance, and ward off dementia. I thoroughly recommend it as a component of a lifestyle that can maintain your brain, and therefore you as a person. It can be a lot of fun, too, and fun is indispensable to life!”
